Sliding doors for show-cases.



R. L. PRICE 8a G. A. DELAPLAIN. SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOW GASES.

APPLICATION FILED APR14, 1911.

1,032,702. Patented July'16, 1912.

I a SHEETSSHEET 1.

I I I 14/ m 7/ m j g 15 G-A .Dal /aZam T mini- 72 w I gmvewtcvosR.L.Pmce amz R. L. PRICE & G. A. DELAPLAIN. SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOWGASES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 4, 1911.

Patented July 16, 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Elwwmtozs R. L; PRICE 5; G. A. DBLAPLAIN SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOW GASES.APPLICATION FILED APRA, 1911.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

Patented July 16, 1912.

barren s'ra'rns rarnn'r orrien ROBERT L. PRICE AND GUY A. DELAYPLAIN, orCOLLEGEPOR'I, TEXAS SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOW CASES. 4

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application 'filed April 4,-1911. Serial No. 618,861.

. Cases, OfwVVhlCh the following is a specification, reference being hadto the accom panying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in sliding doors for show cases,vehicles and other structures the object of the invention being "toprovide sliding doors and guides and operating devices therefor, wherebythe doors may be operated in either direction,

and .whereby when either of the doors.

opened it passes to the inner side of the other door; and when closedmoves out;

wardly so as to lie in a common plane with the other door. 7 P p Theinvention consists 111 the construction, combination and arrangement ofde vlces hereinafter described and claimed."

In the accompanying drawings Figured is a vertidal transverse sectionalview of a' show case provided with shding'doors, and guid ng andOPESI'It-IHg'ClGVICQS therefor, in

. of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the switchbars; Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view on the plane indicated by theline cc'of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of one of thehandles; Fig; 8 is a detail sectional view showing a modifiedconstruction of our invention; andltigl 9 is a similar view showinganother modification. i V

WVhile we herein show and describe our improved sliding doors as in usein a show case, we would have it understood that our improved doors andoperating devices therefor may be employed as vehicle doors or as doorsfor other structures, and hence we do not limit ourselves in thisparticular or as to the structure in connection with which our improveddoors are used.

1 For the purposes of this specification, the show case 1 is-shown asprovided in its top with a pair, oflongitudinal bars 2, 3 which areprovided in their opposing sides with guide grooves 4, there being aflange at the upper side of each guide groove, and a flange 6 at thelower side thereof. These bars 2, 3 are connected together at theirends, by bars 7, and at their centers by a cross bar 8. A pair ofsliding doors 9, 10 operate and are .slidably mounted in-the guidegrooves 4. The thickness of each sliding door about equal to one halfthe width of each guide groove so that the said slid- 1 Patented July 161912."

ing doors may he one upon the other, when they are both at the same endof the guide grooves, and the doors when both of them are closed, maylie in the same plane, and bearagainst the upper flanges 5 of the guide.--grooves.

In the bottoms of the guide grooves are switch bars 11, 12, whichincline in opposite ."directions, and are disposed in opposite ends ofthe show case. These switch, bars operate llr-COHDGCtlOD with thedoors-9, 10, respectively, each switch bar having a pivot 13 spaced,10111 one end, and being adapted to bear at its opposite end on the baseflange 6 ot the guide groove in which it is disposed. These switch barsmay be disposed either at an angle tothe guide grooves or paralleltherewith, according to the position of the doors. The door 9 isprovided atopposite sides and near its ends with outwardly projectingtappets 14, to operate in connection with the switch bars 11. The door10 has similar tappets 15 to operate in connection with the switchbarslil. Above each switch bar 11 is a stop pin 16, and above eachswitch bar 12 is a similar stop pin 17. v These stop pins limit theupward movement of the free ends of they switch bars and serve inconnection with the doors and their tappets to hold the switch bars inhorizontal position, parallel with the guide grooves 4,, when the doorsare in closed position, and both disposed in the same plane. The tappetsof the doors when the doors are in closed position, bear upon the switchbars at a point to one side of the pivots thereof, so that the weight ofthe doors turns the switch bars to a position parallel with the guidegrooves and holds them in engagement with the stop pins 16. and hence itwill be understood that the switch bars serve to support the doors andto close them against the upper or outer flanges 5 o f the guidegrooves, the doors being thus disposed end for end, slightly spaced.

apart, with the space between them covered by the cross bar 8,and bothof the doors being in the same plane. Each of-the doors is beveled onits under side at its inner end as at l8. vBy thus providing" the doorswith the beveled inner ends, each door may be moved the bottom flanges 6thereof, thus forming.

I inclined planesto direct-the door downward to the bot-tom ofthe guidegrooves, the supporting tappets of the moving door when they havecleared and descended the inclined switch bars, bearing directly on thebottom flanges of the guide grooves, and permitting fee vtransverselyunder the bar 3, and is provided inner end, a seriesof-teeth 24 any oneof the moving'door to lie parallel with and under the other door.v Toillustrate and referring particularly to Fig. 2, when the door 10 is inopened position its right hand tappet 15 will be under the left handswitch 12 so'that the latter will be held elevated, parallel with theflange 6. Hence when the door 10 is moved to the right to-close it itsright hand tappet will merely move from under the left hand switch12.,and let the latter drop to inclined position, and as the said doornears the limit ofits closing movement its right hand tappet 15 willslide up the right hand switch'l2 at the same time that its left handtappet will slide up. the left hand. switch and hence the door will-bedirected upwardly and also to the right and caused to bear against theupper and outer flanges 5 of the guide groove and to lie in a commonplane with the other door.

Each door is provided onits under side near one end with an arm19, whichextends with an up-turned end-20, In connection with each door weprovide an endless operating cord 21 which passes around guide "pulleys22,, with which-the frame of the topof the case is provided. Theseendless guide cords are sufiiciently slack to compensate for thevertical movement of the doors between the upper and lower sides of theguide grooves, and each cord has on its outer lead,

which extends on the rear side of the show case, a handle 23. by whichit may be pulled in the required direction to open or close the door towhich the cord is connected. Each handle 23 has on the inner side of itsbase or which may beengaged with a locking tooth 25 with which theshowcase is provided and which projects from the rear side thereof.

In practice, a suitable stop is provided to limit the movement of thedoors when the '19 connected to' the doors.

.in these guide grooves 26.

.near the outer ends of the doors from slipping beyond the extreme freeends of the switch bars near the center of the case and, hence,rendering the doors inoperative. Such a stop is shown'at 19 in Fig. '1arranged medially of the bar 3, on the front. side of saidbar and in thepath of the arms When either door is opened its arm 19 comesin-engagement with the stop 19 and limits such movementof the door. l

The rear side or frame of the show case is here shown as'provided-in theopposingsides of its bars with guide grooves 26, each of which has aflange 27 at its inner side and a flange 28 at its outer side. A pair ofvertically disposed sliding doors 29,-operate groove is provided in itsbottorn at a: point midway betweenv the sides thereof, with a guideflange 30 so that'guide-ways 31, 32 are'provided intheLguide grooves atoppositesides. thereof -The doors 29 are provided near their-.ends withtappets 33, to operate in the said guide ways. I switch bars 3e aredisposed in the bottoms of the guide grooves near the ends, .and alsonear the centers thereof, at suitable points, and opposite the saidfixed .switchbars'are movable switch. bars 35, each of which is Eachguide pivoted as at 36, and is'provided-with a spring 37 to normallyhold it in open position away from the companion fixed switch bar sothat the fixed and pivoted springpressed switch bars" form inclinedguideways near the ends and also nearthe centers of the guide grooves-26.- *When .the'doors 29' are-in closed position-,- their tappets33.are in contact with the outer ends ofthe pivoted spring pressedswitchbars 35, so that the doors are held thereby against the flanges '27ofthe guide grooves; 26, hence the doors 29 when in closed position areboth in the same plane, and in lineawith each lother. When either of thedoors. is opened, its tappets run between certain of the fixed switchbars 34, and pivoted spring-pressed bars 35 so that the door is movedlaterally aswell as longitudinally, to first clear theother ,door,

become disposed on the outer side thereof, and to then movelongitudinally thereon,

Hence when each door is started to be moved to open position, thecoacting fixed switch bars 34 first cause the said door to moveto thefact that when each door is in closed position, its tappets by coactionwith the outer ends of the pivoted switch bars, keep vthe latterparallel with the guide grooves,

the doors are free to move in either direction.

The stops to limit the inward movement of the doors 29, when they areopened, are formed by the handles 29* which, in Fig. 3, are shown. onthe rear sides of the doors. These handles, when the doors are opened tothe required extent strike the cross bar 29 which forms. a portion ofthe rear side of the case. Any suitable form of stop may be provided tolimit the opening movement of the doors and we'would have it understoodthat we are not'limited as to this particular.

In Fig. 8 we show'another modified structure of our invention inwhicheach of the switch bars 35 is'normally moved by a spring 37 against astop pin 36*, the switch bar having its lower end spacedlfrom thebottomof the groove 32*: The spring 37 fixed at one end in a recess 34 and itsfree end engages a notch 35 with which .the switch bar is provided..'The-tappets 33 of the doors 29 are substantially elliptical in shape andtheir axes are in line with the guide grooves 26, L Y

ln Fig. 9 we show another modified form of our invention in which theswitch elements 35 are bars which are pivotally mounted at their lowerends as at 35 and provided, each at its free end, with a notch 35 Eachof these bars or switch elements operates in a recess 34 the curved edge3 of which is concentric with the pivot 35 and -is spaced a slightdistance from the free end 35' of the switch element and normally the"switch element is maintained in a slightly inclinedposition withrespectto the bottom of the grooves 32 by means of an inclined face 33 Thetappets 38 of the doors 29*, .when the doors are moved vin onedirection, engage the notches 35 of the switch elements 35 and themovement of the doors turns said switch elements on their pivots so thatthe switch elements coeact with the tappets of the doors to move thelatter out- ,wardly and dispose them both in the same lane.

\Vhile we have herein shown and describedseveral modifications of ourinventlOllWQ would have it understood that other are spaced from theends of the switches,

and tappets projecting from opposite sides of the door, spaced from theends thereof and so disposed with reference to the switches that whenthe door is opened and at one side of the guides the tappets near thefront end thereof will lie under and hold the corresponding switches inparallel position with respect to the sides of the guides, so that whenthe door is moved to closed. position the last named switches willbefirst cleared by the last named tappets and permitted to move toinclined position, 'and the tappets of thedoor' as it nears the limit ofits closing movement will simultaneously ride up 011 the switches andmove the door laterally and against the opposite side of the guides.

2. In combination with a sliding door and guides in which the door islongitudinally and laterally movable, pivotally mounted switches in theguides, said doors and switches having coacting means to cause theswitches to be turned at the initial move ment of the door when thelatter is opened and near the final movement of the door when the latteris closed, to cause said switches, owing to the longitudinal movement ofthe door, to also move the latter laterally toward one side or the otherof the guides, according to the direction in which the door is moved.

Intestimony whereof .we hereunto aflix our signatures in the presence oftwo witnesses.

ROBERT L. PRICE. GUY A. DELAPLAIN. WVitnesses d J. H. ADAMS, W. H.BAUUR.

